Speaker 1: Hmm. Welcome back all the smoke, LA. We're honored today
Speaker 1: to have one of the most powerful women in basketball,
Speaker 1: Vice President of the Lakers, Keisha Knicks. Welcome to the show,
Speaker 1: Welcome to thank you, black woman Rock. Yes, who do
Speaker 1: That's a mighty title. How did that title come about?
Speaker 1: And how did you end up getting that position? Well?
Speaker 1: I started my career actually in finance, believe it or not,
Speaker 1: and I did that for about twenty one years. But
Speaker 1: the last few years I managed the Bank of America
Speaker 1: sponsorship with the Los Angeles Dodgers, So that got me
Speaker 1: into sports and sports philanthropy and I did that job
Speaker 1: pretty good. And when Jeannie Buss was looking for someone
Speaker 1: to oversee the Lakers Foundation, she called the Dodgers. The
Speaker 1: Dodgers referred me. I got a call on a Monday,
Speaker 1: and by Friday, I had a whole new career. I mean,
Speaker 1: someone who grew up in South central LA. What did
Speaker 1: that mean? I mean, Dodgers was probably a cool opportunity,
Speaker 1: but there's nothing like the Lakers. What did it mean
Speaker 1: to you a girl coming from LA to be a
Speaker 1: black woman coming into this position. But just the prestige
Speaker 1: of the Lakers, I mean I grew up a huge
Speaker 1: Lakers family. My family is all LA all day long.
Speaker 1: So I'm from South central LA born and raised. We
Speaker 1: watched the Dodgers, we watched the Lakers. You know, you
Speaker 1: could do what you wanted on football, but those were
Speaker 1: two teams. There was just no other things. And so
Speaker 1: to grow up watching you know, Magic and Kareem and
Speaker 1: Worthy and you know, all these Laker legends, and to
Speaker 1: now work with them, to be a colleague, to call them,
Speaker 1: you know, or they call me, you know, whenever they
Speaker 1: need something. It's like a dream come true. And sometimes
Speaker 1: I have to really pinch myself. And then to be
Speaker 1: able to go back into the community that I grew
Speaker 1: up in and to make opportunities happen for kids that
Speaker 1: look like me, that is literally something I can't believe
Speaker 1: it's work. I can't believe I'm being paid. You probably
Speaker 1: like a player, you probably get phone called Can I
Speaker 1: get some tickets? Can I get some tickets? Can I
Speaker 1: get some to It's what's that demand been like and
Speaker 1: what's kind of what was the response from your family,
Speaker 1: Like you said, obviously you know huge Laker fans. How
Speaker 1: how did that go across with the family? Oh, my god.
Speaker 1: My family is so excited. My son is probably getting
Speaker 1: the most of this because he's an only child and
Speaker 1: so he gets to go to, you know, everything, But
Speaker 1: my family is just they're really proud of me. Um.
Speaker 1: They are the ones that don't ask for tickets and
Speaker 1: they could. It's the people that shouldn't do the right Yes. Yes,
Speaker 1: oh got the week of Lebron making history. You can't imagine.
Speaker 1: On my phone was blowing up. But you know, I
Speaker 1: do what I can, and I usually tell people just
Speaker 1: let me bless you, don't ask me, let me bless you,
Speaker 1: you know. And we have we have an allocation of
Speaker 1: tickets for the community that we give out like every
Speaker 1: single game, and so I you know, I meet people
Speaker 1: every day that you know, have youth and I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: do they want to come to a Laker game? And
Speaker 1: they say yes, and I'm able to do that for them.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. We got a chance to see each other
Speaker 1: the other night. I got to moderate the Showtime Laker panel, which,
Speaker 1: like you said, we grew up watching these guys. And
Speaker 1: to be able to sit down and talk to them
Speaker 1: for an hour and a half, I mean, what is
Speaker 1: it like mixing elbows and like you said, being colleagues
Speaker 1: with guys like Magic and Kareem and Worthy and dealing
Speaker 1: with guys like that, and then also Lebron and everything
Speaker 1: that kind of comes with that Laker title, you know
Speaker 1: it Like I said, it's it's amazing, and it gives
Speaker 1: me the opportunity to change other people's lives. It's not
Speaker 1: something that I take lightly because you know, we have
Speaker 1: this iconic brand, this global brand, and we can use
Speaker 1: that to really create opportunities for black and brown youth
Speaker 1: that otherwise wouldn't have it. And then when you think
Speaker 1: about our legends and our current players, how many of
Speaker 1: them grew up single parent households, at boys and girls clubs,
Speaker 1: at Park and Rex. If they didn't have somebody look
Speaker 1: out for them or some type of community advocate, they
Speaker 1: wouldn't even be where they are today. So I feel
Speaker 1: like the jobs that we have in philanthropy and in
Speaker 1: community are so vital and so important, you know, because
Speaker 1: if it weren't for some of the programs that we have,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't have the Magics and the Shacks, you know,
Speaker 1: and the Lebrons. They all have stories and a lot
Speaker 1: of them are really similar. So I really understand the responsibility.
Speaker 1: I may only have one biological child, but I feel
Speaker 1: like the youth in my community all belong to me.
Speaker 1: That because it takes a village obviously get an opportunity
Speaker 1: to work with the Dodgers now the Lakers. Was that
Speaker 1: always your goal to try to to find a way
Speaker 1: to get into sports her that just kind of pop up.
Speaker 1: It kind of popped up. I always loved sports. My
Speaker 1: goal was really to be able to just do work
Speaker 1: in the community. So while I was working in finance
Speaker 1: and it was paying the bills, I was doing community
Speaker 1: relations for free. I'm still waiting on that rebate check
Speaker 1: to income. I was at Merrill Lynch for eighteen years,
Speaker 1: working in high net worth finance. But I found a
Speaker 1: way to bring those wealthy individuals to Compton, to South Central,
Speaker 1: to watts So because of my day job, I was
Speaker 1: able to create other opportunities. And after about eighteen years,
Speaker 1: and Bank of America bought Merrill, they asked me to
Speaker 1: join community relations and I said, oh, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: I don't want to do this for real. I want
Speaker 1: to do this, you know, for play. Going into community
Speaker 1: relations was not lucrative. It was a pay cut a
Speaker 1: big pay cut and my son was going off to college,
Speaker 1: and as a single mom, like who makes that kind
Speaker 1: of decision? But I knew that I would not end
Speaker 1: up where I really wanted to if I didn't take
Speaker 1: that leap of faith. And I didn't know that it
Speaker 1: was gonna be with the Lakers. I didn't know that
Speaker 1: it was gonna be with the Dodgers. I just knew
Speaker 1: that serving my community was what I was born to do,
Speaker 1: being a fan first and foremost and now working with them.
Speaker 1: Was there anyone that you were kind of in awe,
Speaker 1: whether it be Genie, Magic, Braun, I may be forgetting
Speaker 1: people when you kind of first got the job, when
Speaker 1: getting your feel under you. I would say, well, definitely,
Speaker 1: in all of all of the above. But when when asked,
Speaker 1: you know, Magic is just the ultimate, you know, Laker
Speaker 1: for me and being able to work with him, my
Speaker 1: son was in his mentoring scholarship program, so I got
Speaker 1: to see, you know, the other side of him, and
Speaker 1: now to be able to work with him is just amazing.
Speaker 1: He is all that that you seem, always so upbeat,
Speaker 1: always so uplifting, and he was one of the very
Speaker 1: first people to call and congratulate me when I became
Speaker 1: vice president, the first black female UNI in the history
Speaker 1: the Lakers. That's big. That's really big. It's really big. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: Genie offended the program. I've known Genie for a long time.
Speaker 1: Talk to us about her. Yeah, Jack has a crush
Speaker 1: on her, but that my friends crush, professional crush. No,
Speaker 1: there's girls who have girls girls crush on Jennie. UM.
Speaker 1: Genie's amazing, UM, being able to work you know, directly
Speaker 1: with her um daily. Um. She's definitely somebody that I
Speaker 1: look up to. UM. She said, you know, it's okay
Speaker 1: to be the first, but it's not okay to be
Speaker 1: the only. And you know those words, you know, inspire me.
Speaker 1: You know, she's so smart. But what I love most
Speaker 1: about her, she's so humble. She is just so humble, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, she's just walking around the office. You know,
Speaker 1: she's regular. She parks in the same places that we
Speaker 1: park our cars and and she doesn't ask for a
Speaker 1: lot of special privileges. UM. And she works hard, Like
Speaker 1: sometimes I feel guilty if I'm leaving the office and
Speaker 1: she's her car is still there. You know, she's an
Speaker 1: owner that that believes in work and showing up and
Speaker 1: so she's somebody that I definitely admire and I'm just
Speaker 1: you know, I feel blessed to be able to work
Speaker 1: and learn so much from her. Kobe was someone who
Speaker 1: was big with giving back to the youth in the
Speaker 1: community and obviously the Mamba Academy. Any stories about Kobe,
Speaker 1: you get a chance to meet Kobe. Yes, So Kobe's
Speaker 1: last year was my first year, okay, and so we
Speaker 1: didn't do a lot of work together. That year. He
Speaker 1: did things for the foundation, and it wasn't until like
Speaker 1: Jersey retirement time that I started working with him and
Speaker 1: the president of his organization, his corporation, and I helped
Speaker 1: them raise a lot of money for the Mamba Foundation,
Speaker 1: and they came back to me and said, you know what,
Speaker 1: we like you, we want to work with you. And
Speaker 1: so we started to do a lot of projects together.
Speaker 1: And I was able to sit on a panel with
Speaker 1: Kobe during Women's History Month in twenty eighteen, and that
Speaker 1: was amazing just to see how excited he was about
Speaker 1: women in sports, just like how when he played, you know,
Speaker 1: and I just felt like, how he's going to really
Speaker 1: change the game, you know, for women in sports. And
Speaker 1: so it was a blessing to be able to work
Speaker 1: so closely with him. I really felt like, I mean,
Speaker 1: he was the main push. I feel like, as a
Speaker 1: former athlete that really started like okay, we because we
Speaker 1: all supported the w NBA, but it just wasn't you know,
Speaker 1: we watched it. You know, how do you come out
Speaker 1: and really show support and get the gear and really
Speaker 1: let people know that we are fans of this. And
Speaker 1: I really credit him for really kind of making that push,
Speaker 1: not only in the w NBA, but even in college
Speaker 1: women's college athletics to kind of be like, okay, like hey,
Speaker 1: we do support, let's really show them how we support.
Speaker 1: And you know, I always, you know, took my hat
Speaker 1: off to him for that. Thoughts on Lebron's longevity not
Speaker 1: only in basketball, but the effect he has in the
Speaker 1: community off the court. I mean, it's phenomenal to know
Speaker 1: that he has created a whole school. I mean, just
Speaker 1: the sounds of that, you know. I mean, yes, he
Speaker 1: wrote the school record, and yes he's been in the
Speaker 1: league for twenty years, but he designed a school and
Speaker 1: he's he's changing lives of you know, the young people
Speaker 1: in Akron, and he's giving them opportunities to go to college,
Speaker 1: and he's not only helping them, he's helping their parents.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a family affair, you know, with him,
Speaker 1: and so it may sound crazy, but I'm more proud
Speaker 1: of what he does off the court, even though he's
Speaker 1: phenomenal on the court, because what he's doing off the
Speaker 1: court will go so much further and will last so long.
Speaker 1: And when I think about sometimes I look at interviews
Speaker 1: he did coming right out of high school, and then
Speaker 1: I think about how this man never went to college,
Speaker 1: and when you hear him speak, he is so educated
Speaker 1: and so on point, and I'm thinking, wow, I mean
Speaker 1: that is just you know, the power of hard work.
Speaker 1: Hard work is the great equalizer, I always say. And
Speaker 1: so when I look at that, you can't tell me
Speaker 1: that our young people can't do things like this. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was he said, I'm not going to be a
Speaker 1: product of my environment. I know where I was born
Speaker 1: and raised, but I'm going to do more than that.
Speaker 1: And he defied all the odds. And so he's just
Speaker 1: another one that I feel like our young people can
Speaker 1: really look up to. I love that is what's the
Speaker 1: day in the life for you? Like, well, what kind
Speaker 1: of stuff in the community are you doing or around
Speaker 1: the organization. What kind of stuff do you do? Oh?
Speaker 1: My god, everything. So I left, I left speaking out
Speaker 1: of high school this morning to come over here to
Speaker 1: see you guys. Thank you very much, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1: And I go to all of our home games. I
Speaker 1: have a fundraising element at every game. I have two
Speaker 1: hundred community people, youth and organizations that I host at
Speaker 1: every single game. I'm building basketball courts all around Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: I think we're a little over forty at this point.
Speaker 1: You know. I have health and fitness and basketball clinics.
Speaker 1: We work with over twenty boys and girls clubs. That's
Speaker 1: over a hundred thousand young people. Last night at the game,
Speaker 1: we flew in the Jubilee singers from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 1: They sang the national anthem. Last year was the first
Speaker 1: time we ever had the black national anthems sunk at
Speaker 1: a Lakers game, and that was thanks to our work
Speaker 1: with Fifth University. UM. So, I mean, I'm everywhere as
Speaker 1: much as I can be. It's not just in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: but mostly in Los Angeles and really in our underresource communities.
Speaker 1: That's where you know the need is important and it's
Speaker 1: important for me to show up and not just send
Speaker 1: the check or send the basketballs or send the resources.
Speaker 1: I want them to see me. I want them to
Speaker 1: understand that the person that makes these decisions looks like them, right,
Speaker 1: looks like their mom, looks like their grandmother or their sister.
Speaker 1: I want them to understand that. And so every opportunity
Speaker 1: that I get to go out and you know, flash
Speaker 1: the ring, because not everybody, you know, especially not a
Speaker 1: lot of women you know, have that. And so I'm
Speaker 1: so proud of this, and so I do it so
Speaker 1: that the young people that I serve understand what's possible.
Speaker 1: Absolutely got to see it to believe it. That part
Speaker 1: what goes into planning a showcase like a HBC. You
Speaker 1: have time and stuff like that, like how difficult and
Speaker 1: tedious you have to be to make sure everything goes
Speaker 1: right with that, you know, you have to take a
Speaker 1: lot and you have to understand what the greater good
Speaker 1: who this is going to really serve. And so not
Speaker 1: everyone always sees your vision. You know, I'm one who
Speaker 1: you know is positive. And so I think about five
Speaker 1: years ago, some of this stuff that I'm getting done
Speaker 1: would not have been able. But because of social justice.
Speaker 1: Because of things that happened during the pandemic, there are
Speaker 1: so many more opportunities, and so you kind of have
Speaker 1: to have patience, and you have to understand that not
Speaker 1: everything that you want to do is going to happen overnight,
Speaker 1: and not everybody sees your vision. But if you can
Speaker 1: just have the patience and the wherewithal to see it through,
Speaker 1: then you can make something like an HBCU. You know,
Speaker 1: we had the very first HBCU come to a Lakers
Speaker 1: game three years ago. We started with FAMU, then we
Speaker 1: had Southern, Then last year we had Tennessee State, Now
Speaker 1: we got FISK. Those things didn't happen before, and so
Speaker 1: I could have gotten angry or frustrated, but I just
Speaker 1: kept saying, in due time, in due time, how hard
Speaker 1: is it, real quick not to cut you off, Jack,
Speaker 1: to kind of weed out because obviously everyone wants to
Speaker 1: be able to test their name to the Laker brand.
Speaker 1: How hard is it to weed out what you choose
Speaker 1: to do and what you may pass on. Ninety five
Speaker 1: percent of my job is saying no to believe it
Speaker 1: or not ninety percent because we get that many requests,
Speaker 1: there's that many amazing organizations that I have to say
Speaker 1: no that much, and that's really one of the most
Speaker 1: challenging parts of my job. And Jeanie Bust and Linda
Speaker 1: Rambas told me that when I got there, that is
Speaker 1: going to be like, we want you because we feel
Speaker 1: like you can do that. And so it becomes challenging
Speaker 1: and sometimes I create more work for myself my team
Speaker 1: because I don't say no. I say, well, we can't
Speaker 1: do that, but okay, how about if we do this
Speaker 1: and we'll start here, And so it creates more work,
Speaker 1: but it also creates more opportunity. And so it's just
Speaker 1: something that you know, I want unlimited resources, but we
Speaker 1: don't have unlimited resources, believe it or not. I have
Speaker 1: to fundraise all these projects that I'm talking about. There's
Speaker 1: not just some magical person writing a check. I have
Speaker 1: to go out in fundraise and the Lakers allow me
Speaker 1: to use one hundred percent of what I raise to
Speaker 1: put back into the community. So they're extremely generous. They
Speaker 1: take care of all of our overhead and administrative costs,
Speaker 1: so we don't have to worry about that. But it
Speaker 1: behooves me and it's in my best interests to go
Speaker 1: out there and make money for the foundation. You've opened
Speaker 1: up many boys and girls clubs talk. Can we talk
Speaker 1: about that? Sure? Because that I think that's awesome to
Speaker 1: say that you not just open one, but you go
Speaker 1: open many. Yes. So one of my favorites. And I'll
Speaker 1: probably get in trouble for this, but I have to
Speaker 1: say it. It's historical Challengers Boys and Girls Club in
Speaker 1: South central LA. Challengers has been around for a long
Speaker 1: time and we have a Lakers basketball court there and
Speaker 1: as of last summer, I got purple bleachers in there.
Speaker 1: Something excited about that. Those bleachers were a nightmare. I
Speaker 1: didn't want the kids to get hurt. We have an
Speaker 1: outdoor court. They actually have a dental lab in the
Speaker 1: Boys and Girls club and they take care of the
Speaker 1: youth during the week and on the weekends they open
Speaker 1: it up to the community. They have like a sound
Speaker 1: studio we're working on. I mean, you think about it's
Speaker 1: life changing. It's not just the days when you know
Speaker 1: they were just watching the kids because the parents didn't
Speaker 1: have something to do. We built a STEM lab there
Speaker 1: with our last championship through the NBA, we were able
Speaker 1: to build a STEM lab. So what we're teaching these
Speaker 1: young people at the Boys and Girls Club. It's not
Speaker 1: just sports, it's stem, it's steam, its arts and culture,
Speaker 1: it's all the things that they need to get them
Speaker 1: to college, to get them to their first career. So
Speaker 1: when you think about it, it's not just okay, we're gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, drop our kids off, they're gonna you know,
Speaker 1: play basketball outside for a couple of hours. No, they're
Speaker 1: actually learning and stuff. And especially during the pandemic, it
Speaker 1: was challenging to keep those clubs open, but it was necessary,
Speaker 1: it was really necessary, and it was the only place
Speaker 1: that they could sometimes log onto a computer, the only place. Well,
Speaker 1: I think so often, you know, especially in the communities
Speaker 1: that are underserved, we want them to you know, get
Speaker 1: out of that street life or don't do this, don't
Speaker 1: do that. But then what are we arming them or
Speaker 1: tooling them with when we tell them not to do that? So,
Speaker 1: I mean, things like this are instrumental for the youth. Exactly,
Speaker 1: how do you work with current and pass players when
Speaker 1: you're when you need the guys to support the cause,
Speaker 1: And is it Any's a two question, And is anybody
Speaker 1: that's always available when you call him. It's gonna sound funny,
Speaker 1: but they're almost always available. I mean they love they
Speaker 1: love doing it, you know. And I love working with
Speaker 1: our legends as well as our current players. You know,
Speaker 1: during the season, we're very mindful of the schedule, so
Speaker 1: maybe we don't call on our current players as much
Speaker 1: or we you know, we get them in and out.
Speaker 1: Our legends, Oh my god, it's like a reunion every
Speaker 1: time you see him. You saw him the other night.
Speaker 1: We had dressing rooms set up for all of them.
Speaker 1: Why do they all end up in the same wrestling
Speaker 1: you know, um, And it's like that, literally, I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm working with family. When I first got the promotion,
Speaker 1: I remember coming to a game and James Worthy was
Speaker 1: sitting in like row A and I walked by and
Speaker 1: he was like all hell to the v Like he
Speaker 1: was so happy for me and so excited. He was
Speaker 1: introducing me to people, and I was just like, wow,
Speaker 1: you know, they eat me like a little sister, and
Speaker 1: I really really appreciate that. And they know there isn't
Speaker 1: anything that we wouldn't do for them. And so when
Speaker 1: I call, it's not like it goes a voicemail, you know,
Speaker 1: they answer, or if they text me, I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what do you need, you know what, what can we
Speaker 1: help you to accomplish because they all have, you know,
Speaker 1: their own passions, their own foundations, or charitable efforts that
Speaker 1: they're working on, and we do a lot to support
Speaker 1: those efforts. Love it. In twenty twenty one, you were
Speaker 1: voted Sports Illustrated most one of the most one hundred
Speaker 1: influential Black women in sports. Knowing your journey, knowing where
Speaker 1: you came from, what did that mean to you? That
Speaker 1: meant so much to me, Matt, because I had just
Speaker 1: gotten the promotion a couple of weeks before that, and
Speaker 1: I was like, nobody knows like I was, you know,
Speaker 1: like a little I don't know, taken back. And my
Speaker 1: son was like, Mom, just calm down. You know, it'll happen.
Speaker 1: And I was like, I know, but it was still
Speaker 1: the pandemic, you know, things were different. And one of
Speaker 1: my girlfriends jokingly said, I'm gonna call Sports Illustrate it
Speaker 1: and my son was like, do not do that. Like
Speaker 1: he could just see the wheels turning in our minds,
Speaker 1: you know, and so and we didn't. But then for
Speaker 1: that to happen, um, I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 1: He said, I told you you didn't have to do
Speaker 1: it like it happened, and then for Magic to call
Speaker 1: and for Magic to tweet about it. I was like,
Speaker 1: who needs media when you got magic? Powerful? Powerful? Um,
Speaker 1: Obviously you've been able to have a very successful uh
Speaker 1: business career and and and giving back to the youth.
Speaker 1: But oh why you were a single mom raising young
Speaker 1: a young black man and you've spoke to on your
Speaker 1: son two or three times and every time you speak
Speaker 1: on him you light up. So speak to your guys's relationship,
Speaker 1: your bond, and how tough was getting on you, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of getting your grind to where you are now
Speaker 1: as a single mom. It was definitely not easy, but
Speaker 1: my job was making it look easy. And so, like
Speaker 1: I said, we grew up in south central UM. He
Speaker 1: went to Dorsey High School. UM, not you know, a
Speaker 1: prestigious you know, private school or anything. And while I
Speaker 1: was working in finance, believe it or not, there were
Speaker 1: times when I had to take him to work because
Speaker 1: I didn't have anybody to watch him. And he grew
Speaker 1: up there. Literally I found out I was pregnant a
Speaker 1: couple months after getting that job, and I was so
Speaker 1: afraid back in nineteen ninety four that I was going
Speaker 1: to lose my job, so I had to hide it,
Speaker 1: you know, until like I couldn't hide it anymore. And
Speaker 1: so he literally was almost born at Merrill Lynch. Fast forward.
Speaker 1: I started there at twenty four. Twenty four years later,
Speaker 1: he started at Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor in
Speaker 1: the same office as me. And I'm just like, wow,
Speaker 1: that's how God brings it back full circle. You know.
Speaker 1: He started out much higher than where I started, but
Speaker 1: just those days when I had him in the office,
Speaker 1: you know, it really influenced and impacted his life. And
Speaker 1: now to be able to share the success I have,
Speaker 1: you know, with the Lakers and the things that I'm doing,
Speaker 1: and the reason why he wanted to come today. But
Speaker 1: he's teaching financial literacy at two schools and he said, mom, oh,
Speaker 1: I want to be there, but I really I really
Speaker 1: liked the kids. And I said, well, you go do
Speaker 1: what you gotta do, and I'll do what I have
Speaker 1: to make sure when we film again or look, give
Speaker 1: them the heads of income hang out for the day.
Speaker 1: But that's really, I mean, that's dope because you know, obviously,
Speaker 1: you know Jack and I being in our space and
Speaker 1: we would bring our kids around and they inspire to
Speaker 1: be what we do. So on the flip side, same thing,
Speaker 1: you were bringing him to work and he, you know,
Speaker 1: he aspired to be what his mom was doing. So
Speaker 1: I think that's and it's twenty four and twenty four
Speaker 1: and you know how instrumental that is to the to
Speaker 1: the lake or so it was meant to be. It
Speaker 1: was written, it was written, it was written, and he
Speaker 1: graduated from that program in Beverly Hills as only the
Speaker 1: second black male in the last ten years to graduate
Speaker 1: from that program. Super dope. What else seems to be
Speaker 1: done to have more women, particularly women of color, in
Speaker 1: the forefront of male dominated spaces, and not just in
Speaker 1: the space, but in leadership roles. Do you feel we
Speaker 1: need more advocates? We need more people like you that
Speaker 1: are willing to highlight you know, what it is we're
Speaker 1: doing and why we're important. We need sponsors, meaning when
Speaker 1: I'm not in a room, I need somebody to be
Speaker 1: out there advocating for me or for the next woman,
Speaker 1: and you know, speaking good on our name so that
Speaker 1: you know someone else wants to hire us or promote us.
Speaker 1: It's really important to have male advocates, very important. I
Speaker 1: mean some male dominated you know, field, no matter how
Speaker 1: much we accomplish, we have to acknowledge that. And so
Speaker 1: without a male advocate, it's a little challenging. And then
Speaker 1: as women, we have to also be secure in ourselves
Speaker 1: and not worry about not helping somebody. You can't be
Speaker 1: the only one all the time. And you can't think that,
Speaker 1: oh God, if I help her, it's gonna take away
Speaker 1: from me. What's for you is for you, you know,
Speaker 1: And believe it or not, I've been hurt by more,
Speaker 1: you know, women that looked like me than helped up.
Speaker 1: Unto a certain point, I was helped by more Caucasian
Speaker 1: men than I was anybody else. And that's starting to
Speaker 1: change and I'm happy about that. And so I have
Speaker 1: to make sure I don't do that, I don't fall
Speaker 1: into that track. I want to help the next Keisha Knicks,
Speaker 1: because so many more people can be me than can
Speaker 1: be lebron or there can be Matt Barnes, or it
Speaker 1: can be Steph you know, so many more people. So
Speaker 1: I need to make sure that I'm doing what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: But I'm grooming the next generation. What would you tell
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you got a lot more to do
Speaker 1: and accomplished. But what would you tell your younger self. Oh,
Speaker 1: I would tell my younger self, you know what, just
Speaker 1: don't listen to society, don't listen to the odds, don't
Speaker 1: become a product of your own vibe. Don't buy into
Speaker 1: the stereotype. You know, Yeah, I'm a single mom. Yes,
Speaker 1: my mom was seventeen when she had me. But that's okay.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not about where you start, and it's
Speaker 1: about where you finished, and it's about the journey along
Speaker 1: the way. And so I think too oftentimes we get discouraged.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm proud I'm fifty three years old, proud
Speaker 1: of my age, and I feel like there's so much
Speaker 1: more that I can do. There was a time when
Speaker 1: people would be like, oh no, it's retirement time. I'm
Speaker 1: like retireing. I got a two or three more careers
Speaker 1: left in me. You know, there's so many more things
Speaker 1: that I want to do. So I would tell my
Speaker 1: younger self that, you know, the sky is the limit
Speaker 1: and it's really about you know, what you make of it.
Speaker 1: You definitely don't get fifty three from me. My son's
Speaker 1: twenty years saying. I'm just saying she don't look fifty three.
Speaker 1: This guy obviously a dream job you're sitting in right now.
Speaker 1: But what is what is your ultimate goal? You know,
Speaker 1: I said that I wanted to run my own foundation,
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying that I don't want to do
Speaker 1: that at some point, but I feel like what I'm
Speaker 1: doing right now is so beneficial. I want to be
Speaker 1: able to take what I'm doing to the next level,
Speaker 1: meaning I want what I'm doing to somehow be able
Speaker 1: to impact minorities in leadership in sports. I want to
Speaker 1: see doors opened for coaches, front office, general managers. I
Speaker 1: don't want it to just stop right here. I don't
Speaker 1: want us to keep having the same conversations on all
Speaker 1: the sports shows about no black coaches in you know whatever,
Speaker 1: the NFL or the NHL or whatever. You know. I
Speaker 1: want to make sure that we're doing what we need
Speaker 1: to do. We have to make sure that everybody is
Speaker 1: equipped and ready be prepared. I had that conversation in
Speaker 1: the car on the way here. Sometimes the opportunity is there,
Speaker 1: but are you ready for the opportunity. So I want
Speaker 1: to make sure that our young people that are coming
Speaker 1: up are qualified and ready, and then make sure that
Speaker 1: those doors get open for them. I love it all right,
Speaker 1: quick hitters. Hopefully this hasn't been too painful for you.
Speaker 1: But quick Cutter's first thing to come to mind. Let
Speaker 1: us know. Five dinner dead or alive? Oh god, Um okay,
Speaker 1: Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Um, Michelle Obama got to bring
Speaker 1: the Obama. There's three, Um, Martin, Luther King and Diana Rossini.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. I'm gonna put you on the
Speaker 1: spot right here. Okay. Five most important Lakers. Oh, this
Speaker 1: question has gotten a lot of people in trouble. Let
Speaker 1: me flip it. You're five favorite players all time, all time. Okay,
Speaker 1: you're starting five of the Lakers. Still gonna get me
Speaker 1: a little trouble, okay, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James.
Speaker 1: This is when it gets dicey. The rest of time,
Speaker 1: we'll take it. Take it. Stuck on the island, Which
Speaker 1: three shows are movies? You're watching all reality shows, the
Speaker 1: Real Housewives of Everything, every one of their dr and
Speaker 1: feeling the whole DVR. But my son is like, you
Speaker 1: are so ratchet, mama, and I believe watching this um
Speaker 1: and all Law and Order. I watch Law and Order
Speaker 1: every day, all day yeah. Um. Five most influential women
Speaker 1: in sports. Um, she's she's not in sports right now,
Speaker 1: but Robin Roberts hands down, Um, somebody that you know
Speaker 1: I really look up to and admire. Um, gosh, I
Speaker 1: gotta take it back. I gotta say Billy jan King
Speaker 1: another one that I meyer. Um, Genie Buss my boss,
Speaker 1: of course, you know, hands down there. Um, let me
Speaker 1: see Lisa Leslie just for what she has done for
Speaker 1: the w NBA, And then I would round it out
Speaker 1: with don't be afraid to tell yourself in there now
Speaker 1: got Nope, I'm gonna go with Serena. Yeah night Arena
Speaker 1: that we need to get Serena on the show. Go
Speaker 1: ahead messages on the board for inspiring the youth. What
Speaker 1: would it be if you had a billboard to inspire
Speaker 1: the youth? What would that message be? Um? What I
Speaker 1: said earlier, hard work is the great equalizer. All work
Speaker 1: is the great equalizer. If you could have if you
Speaker 1: can see one guest on our show, who would it be?
Speaker 1: But you have to help us get your answer on
Speaker 1: the show. Ooh um, you guys have had so many
Speaker 1: great people on the show. Who would I want to
Speaker 1: see on here? You know? So many great people. I
Speaker 1: do know a lot of good people. Oh god, that's
Speaker 1: a tough one, because you guys can get anybody you
Speaker 1: may think. I mean, I would love to see Oprah,
Speaker 1: but I don't have that power, not yet. You gotta
Speaker 1: be somebody you can help us with. Like, Okay, we'll
Speaker 1: get her. You could come. But I like how she
Speaker 1: said she's I don't have that power yet. Yeah, yeah, coming, yeah, coming, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think she had. Let's get Robin Roberts. That'd be dope. Really,
Speaker 1: she's a legend. Definitely honored to have her. So well, Keisha,
Speaker 1: We appreciate your time. We know you have a very
Speaker 1: busy day, but thank you for making time for us,
Speaker 1: and we will continue to advocate for not only you,
Speaker 1: but people that look like you and people that look
Speaker 1: like us to continue to open those doors. We appreciate
Speaker 1: what you're doing. Thank you here. This was not painful
Speaker 1: at all. So we talked to other She was a
Speaker 1: little nurse. She's just like, you know, just just like
Speaker 1: a prom We baby, We got her, got you made
Speaker 1: it through unscathed, and then again next time we come.
Speaker 1: Hopefully your son can come hang out and you know,
Speaker 1: if you need me in the community I'm around, so definitely,
Speaker 1: thank you very much, appreciate, thank you, keep leading the way.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. All the smoke, Keisha Nicks of
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Lakers. You can catch this on Showtime Basketball,
Speaker 1: YouTube and the iHeart platform Black Effects. We'll see y'all
Speaker 1: next week.